 | |
| Founded | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Dean Mullaney Jan Mullaney |
| Defunct | 1994 (intellectual property acquired byTodd McFarlane in 1996) |
| Headquarters location | Staten Island, New York, thenColumbia, Missouri, thenGuerneville, California, thenForestville, California |
| Key people | Catherine Yronwode Fred Burke Letita Glozer Beau Smith |
| Publication types | Comics Graphic novels Trading cards |
| Imprints | Independent Comics Group 4Winds Creative Group Eclipse International |
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the firstgraphic novel intended for the newly createdcomic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties andcreator ownership of rights.
Creators whose early work appears in Eclipse publications includeScott McCloud,Timothy Truman,Dan Brereton,James Hudnall andChris Ware, while the publisher also produced creator-owned work byDon McGregor,Mark Evanier,Gene Colan,Alan Moore,Steve Englehart,Steve Gerber andP. Craig Russell.
The company was founded asEclipse Enterprises by brothers Jan andDean Mullaney – the sons of earlyelectronica musician Dave Mullaney of the bandHot Butter – in April 1977.[1][2] Dean Mullaney later claimed that he was inspired to create the company after learning ofJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster's struggles to gain recognition for creatingSuperman in 1968, and that this led him to create a company with an ethos that respectedcreator ownership androyalty payments over the then-standard industry practice ofwork-for-hire.[3] Jan Mullaney, asessionkeyboardist who had toured with theBee Gees andBad Company, put up the $2000 starting money.[4]
The name was thought up by Sue Pollina, a friend of the Mullaneys, while the company's first logo was designed byMark Gruenwald.[3] The company was initially headquartered at 81 Delaware Street,Staten Island, New York.[5]
Eclipse published one of the first originalgraphic novels, and the first to be sold through the new "direct market" of comic-book stores,[6]Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species byDon McGregor andPaul Gulacy. Published on 30 September 1978 and previewed inHeavy Metal, the book was a success. This led to the Mullaneys being contacted byP. Craig Russell, McGregor's collaborator onMarvel Comics'Amazing Adventures. Eclipse published Russell's experimentalNight Music 1 in November 1979, by which time the company had also released a compilation ofFred Hembeck's parodyDateline: @!!?# strips fromThe Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom.[3] Russell later created comic adaptations of numerous operas for Eclipse.[7] A more sophisticated logo was also commissioned fromTom Orzechowski; it remained the company's insignia for the rest of its existence, minor alterations aside. The profits earned to date were used to fund publication of McGregor'sDetectives, Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green (with artistMarshall Rogers) andSteve Gerber'sStewart the Rat.[3] In 1980, Mullaney moonlighted as co-editor of the brand-new hobbyist publicationComics Feature, produced byHal Schuster'sNew Media Publishing, but left after a year to focus on Eclipse.[8]
Not wanting to limit the company to graphic novels alone, the brothers devisedEclipse, the Magazine, a 68-page bi-monthly black-and-white anthology title with a rotating group of creator-owned characters. The first issue, dated May 1981, introduced the hard-boiled female detectiveMs. Tree byMax Allan Collins andSteve Ditko'sStatic. The title later introducedSteve Englehart'sCoyote,Trina Robbins' adaptation ofSax Rohmer'sDope, McGregor and Colan'sRagamuffins (which Mullaney later described as "perhaps the finest thing we ever published") and B.C. Boyer'sMasked Man.[3] October 1981 saw the publication ofJim Starlin'sDreadstar graphic novelThe Price when the writer-artist was having contractual issues with Marvel. The success of the volume enabled Starlin to leverage a better deal with Marvel, and led to the creation of Marvel'sEpic Comics imprint in 1982. Dean Mullaney later claimed Epic's name was purposefully picked to cause confusion with Eclipse.[4] Another disgruntled Marvel creator to work for Eclipse was Gerber; Eclipse commissioned hisDestroyer Duck series. Another anthology, it was partly motivated to allow Gerber to raise funds to sue Marvel over the ownership ofHoward the Duck. The first issue ofDestroyer Duck sold 80,000 copies and proved to the Mullaneys that color ongoing comics were viable; aSaber series started in 1982 and ran for 14 issues.[4][3]
In December 1981 production ofDestroyer Duck introduced Dean Mullaney toCat Yronwode, then news reporter forComics Buyer's Guide.[9] At the time, Yronwode was working as an archivist forWill Eisner. Yronwode recalled that Eisner and his wife Ann "hosted a party for me with all these comic book men I was flirting with. All these men came up; they all wanted to meet Will. One of them was Dean Mullaney, the co-owner of Eclipse Comics, a small independent publishing house. He was the most flirtatious."[10] The pair began a personal and professional relationship,[4] though the former aspect was initially kept private. Yronwode rapidly became Eclipse's de factoeditor-in-chief.[11]
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While Jan Mullaney remained based in New York to handle the economic side of the business, Dean Mullaney focused on the role of publisher and Yronwode that of editor-in-chief for Eclipse's growing number of titles, and the pair briefly relocated toColumbia, Missouri.[12] After meetingMark Evanier andWill Meugniot, Eclipse published their firstsuperhero regular series,The DNAgents. It was joined byEclipse Monthly, a color successor toEclipse, the Magazine that continuedStatic,Dope andMasked Man as well as introducing further characters.Ms. Tree was spun off into its own title, while Yronwode rediscoveredWill Eisner's lost 1948 storyJohn Law, which was published for the first time.[13][4] After the stopover in Missouri, Dean Mullaney and Yronwode established Eclipse's main offices in the small town ofGuerneville in July 1983.[12] In October 1984 Jan Mullaney opted to discontinue his involvement in order to focus on his music career, leaving his brother as sole publisher and Yronwode officially promoted to editor-in-chief.[4] Eclipse's advertising copy flagged their stance on creator ownership,[14] the maturity of the material[15] and the individuality of the output[16]
Increased output includedScott McCloud'sZot! (which the writer-artist originally submitted through the mail) andDoug Moench'sAztec Ace.[12] Yronwode effectively became the face of the company, continuing to write her influentialFit to Print comic inComics Buyer's Guide and from late 1984 penning thePenumbra column printed in most Eclipse titles; it had previously been namedNotes from Surf City in reference to the 1963Jan and Deansong, an in-joke between the similarly named Mullaney brothers.[4] During this time her name was professionally rendered as "cat ⊕ yronwode" inCBG and Eclipse material. The comic market experienced a downturn in 1984 due to a crowded market but Eclipse was successful enough to weather it; when rivalPacific Comics folded, Mullaney was able to arrange purchasing their titles. This includedDave Stevens'The Rocketeer,Mr. Monster andSomerset Holmes, as well as a recently signed deal for the American rights toQuality Communications' acclaimed British anthologyWarrior. They also set up the Independent Comics Group to publish two issues of the anthologyTwisted Tales, while Fred Burke also joined the company in 1984. Burke subsequently edited and wrote numerous titles for Eclipse.[17]
The inherited deal with Quality was fortuitously timed:Alan Moore had recently taken over writingSaga of the Swamp Thing forDC Comics, triggering the so-calledBritish invasion. TheWarrior deal brought inAxel Pressbutton andThe Spiral Path, which were colored by Eclipse and printed in limited series, as well as taking overPeter Milligan'sStrange Days anthology, starringJohnny Nemo.[4] The deal also included the acclaimed revival ofMarvelman written by Moore, though legal issues – resulting in the book being retitledMiracleman – had to be resolved before Eclipse could run the title.[18]Miracleman was originally one of three 75¢ books launched by Eclipse (along withThe New Wave and the new-materialLaser Eraser and Pressbutton) as part of a short-lived deal with aFinnish printer at the time they were the cheapestdirect market full color comics ever made. However, the results of the printing were severely lacking and the price soon became unviable, with Eclipse reverting the books to their standard 95¢ bracket after the initial printing contract expired. After theWarrior material ran out Moore continued the series at Eclipse. Other new additions around this time wereTimothy Truman'sScout,Larry Marder'sTales of the Beanworld andAdolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters,Don Chin's spoof of the already-parodicTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Russell continued his adaptations with comic versions of the operasSalome andPelleas and Melisandre under theNight Music banner. Eclipse also produced a series of Murray Ward's indexes to various DC titles, continuing from his deal with Pacific; to avoid the complication of Eclipse's logo appearing on books featuring another publisher's intellectual property, these were published via a sub-label named the Independent Comic Group.[4]
Eclipse attempted to innovate with new publishing models for comics. Among these were so-called "micro-series", limited series of two bi-weekly or even weekly issues;[4] a line of 3-Dstereoscopy books in collaboration withRay Zone (including the official adaptation ofDisneyMichael Jackson vehicleCaptain EO);[19] and – later –flexi disc records containingtheme songs for titles. By this point, Eclipse was selling around half a million comics a month, and was the third largest comics publisher afterMarvel Comics andDC Comics.[20]
Eclipse suffered a major setback on February 14, 1986, when theRussian River flooded after heavy rainfall. Eclipse's offices were swamped; the water reached the second floor of their building, as well as Mullaney and Yronwode's homes.[21] Mullaney recalled that Yronwode had to be rescued from her office by aRed Cross canoe;[22] while he was able to save much of the original artwork in the offices by moving it up to the third floor,[21] it destroyed the company's inventory of back issues,[22] as well as color separations for planned reprints ofZot! and Yronwode's notes for a non-fiction book about Steve Ditko.[23] The subject was covered inFit to Print andPenumbra columns.[24] The events were alluded to in a tongue-in-cheek framing sequence Yronwode wrote forMiracleman #8.[25] The damage caused was estimated at $200,000.[26]
Despite the material and financial losses, in July 1986 the company launched its first regular bi-weekly title,Airboy. A revival of a defunctGolden Ageaviator hero originally published byHillman Periodicals between 1942 and 1953, the series was written by the prolificChuck Dixon. The title initially had another unusual format, being a 16-page 50¢ full-color title.[21] While this was eventually dropped,Airboy was a critical and commercial success for Eclipse, and several spin-off titles followed. Superhero seriesThe New Wave also launched using the bi-weekly model before becoming a standard monthly.[27] To deal with the increasing output, both Burke and Letita Glozer (Yronwode's half-sister) were added to the full-time editorial staff, whileBeau Smith joined as Sales Manager.[22]
To avoid further flooding the company also relocated toForestville inSonoma County, California.[28] In July 1987, Yronwode used herFit to Print column to announce her forthcoming marriage to Dean Mullaney, set to take place on August 15 in Forestville; readers were encouraged to write in to receive invitations.[29]
In the period 1987–1993, Eclipse became involved with a selection of comics andtrading cards on real-world political topics. The early political comics were the results of partnerships with activist groups like theCentral Committee for Conscientious Objectors,Citizen Soldier, and theChristic Institute.
In 1987, the company published theantiwar comicReal War Stories #1, edited byJoyce Brabner, with work byMike W. Barr,Steve Bissette,Brian Bolland,Paul Mavrides,Dean Motter,Denny O'Neil andJohn Totleben (among others).[30][31] In 1991, Eclipse publishedReal War Stories #2, the final issue of the series.[32]
In 1988 Eclipse had become the first comics company to produce trading cards with theIran-Contra Scandal Trading Cards, with text written by Paul Brancato and featuring art by Salim Yaqub.[33]
In 1989, Eclipse co-published (withWarner Books) the graphic novelflip bookBrought to Light.[34] The comic, by writersAlan Moore and Joyce Brabner and artistBill Sienkiewicz, dealt in part with theCentral Intelligence Agency's involvement in theIran–Contra affair.
The commercial success of the Iran-Contra Scandal trading cards set led to similar sets on other deliberately provocative subjects – gaining Eclipse considerable mainstream publicity in the process.[35] These included:
Less sensational trading card sets includedThe Comedy Channel presents the Rock Bottom Awards by Peggy Gordon and Sienkiewicz; this was a more light-hearted set that mixed political and celebrity targets;[53] as well as cards on baseball bloopers;[54]James Bond,country music, andNational Lampoon's Loaded Weapon.[55]
The company's 1992 trading card set,True Crime byMax Allan Collins, George Hagenauer, Paul Lee, Valarie Jones, Peggy Collier and Jon Bright, covering both mafia and gang figures such asAl Capone andHymie Weiss to more recent mass killers such asJohn Wayne Gacy andJeffrey Dahmer, drew considerable controversy after an Eclipse press release was picked up byEntertainment Tonight, leading to accusations ofsensationalism.[56][57][58][59] The series was also lambasted onThe Today Show andThe Maury Povich Show, whileMichigan senators put forward a resolution to ban the cards before they had even been released, while legislators inMaryland andArkansas made similar moves. Reporting on the issue, comics industry magazineAmazing Heroes noted that Shel-Tone Publications' similarBloody Visions set had attracted no such censure when released previously.[60] Yronwode later claimed Eclipse received around 10,000 items of hate mail, and wrote about the controversy when the cards were collected as a pair of albums,True Crime Vol 1 – G-Men & Gangsters andTrue Crime Vol 2 – Serial Killers & Mass Murderers in 1993.[61]
Following the success of the True Crime trading cards, in 1993 Eclipse published the two-issue seriesTrue Crime Comics as well as theTrue Crime Comics Special.
Eclipse's creator-owned ethos had commercial flaws; as the company owned few of its properties it was dependent on its freelancing creators to keep popular titles going since fill-in issues and spin-offs had to be cleared with the creators, who also had the rights to take their work to other publishers when contracts expired. After losing his lawsuit overHoward the Duck, Gerber wound downDestroyer Duck to return to his former employers Marvel as a freelancer;[62]Aztec Ace was canceled due to the inability to find satisfactory artists;[63] Scott McCloud's work on theCreator's Bill of Rights caused delays on the award-winningZot!;[64] Dave Stevens struck a deal withComico to serialize newRocketeer material;[23]DNAgents and its spin-offCrossfire were abandoned whenMark Evanier took on work forDC Comics;[4]Ty Templeton abandonedStig's Inferno soon after transferring it to Eclipse when he received offers to work onBooster Gold;[65] andMiracleman slowed to a point where the bi-monthly title shipped three issues between April 1988 and December 1989 due to artistJohn Totleben's health issues.[66]
WhileAirboy andScout remained solid sellers for the company, further attempts to expand into superhero comics, such asThe New Wave,Kurt Busiek'sThe Liberty Project, Tim Truman'sThe Prowler and Chuck Dixon'sStrike! encountered little long-term success. Between 1987 and 1988, Eclipse's share of the market fell from around 8%[67] to 3.6% (also falling behindFirst Comics).[68] The successful emergence ofDark Horse Comics (who also took onMr. Monster) further ate into Eclipse's share. The company began to explore non-fiction; Yronwode and Robbins co-wroteWomen and the Comics, a volume on the history of female comic strip and comic book creators. As the first book on this subject, its publication was covered in the mainstream press in addition to the fan press.[69][70][71]
Attempting to diversify, in 1988 the company created a new division, Eclipse International, to publish material from overseas. One source wasJapan, wheremanga was produced in prodigious amounts; the success of importedanime such asRobotech andVoltron had shown a large potential market for such subject matter. A deal was struck withShogakukan's subsidiaryViz Communication for some of their titles, which were translated and modified for the American market byToren Smith'sStudio Proteus.[72] The first titles wereArea 88,Kamui andMai, the Psychic Girl.[73] These were successful and were followed by other similar titles, includingAppleseed.[22] However, before Eclipse could publish the heavily advertisedLum * Urusei Yatsura, the title was halted due to "circumstances beyond [either party]'s control".[74] In November 1988 Viz chose not to renew their contract with Eclipse, instead setting up their own American publishing wing. Eclipse continued to work with Studio Proteus on other manga imports, includingDominion,What's Michael?, andThe Lost Continent. The company also commissionedAdam Warren to create anEnglish-language version ofDirty Pair.[75]
Alongside this, it partnered with the British independent publisherAcme Press to distribute their comics in the American market.[76] Highlights from the relationship includedPower Comics, a four-issue superhero title with art byDave Gibbons andBrian Bolland;Aces, a five-issue black-and-white anthology of serializedJazz Age genre stories which were originally published in Europe; licensedJames Bond material[77] in the form of the official adaptation of latest filmLicence to Kill[78] and the three issue mini-seriesJames Bond: Permission to Die — the first James Bond comic book storyline not adapted from a previous work — both featuring art fromMike Grell; mini-seriesSteed and Mrs. Peel (based on television showThe Avengers but renamed to avoid confusion with the highly prominent Marvel Comics seriesof that name) byGrant Morrison andIan Gibson; andEddie Campbell'sThe Complete Alec.[79] The collection won the 1991UK Comic Art Award for Best Graphic Novel Collection.[80] The deal ended in 1992.
As its tenth anniversary approached, Eclipse plannedTotal Eclipse, a company-wide crossover in the style of DC's blockbusterCrisis on Infinite Earths. Due to most of its characters being creator-owned, permission had to be sought from each individually; many acceded.[81] Eclipse put considerable resources into the prestige-format "super series", including hiringCrisis writerMarv Wolfman to script the series and commissioning covers fromBill Sienkiewicz.[82] Despite promotional stunts such as bespoke plastic bags for comics stores,[83]Total Eclipse was beset by delays and was a commercial and critical failure, nixing any hopes of relaunching the likes ofStrike! andThe New Wave on the back of its success.[84] Soon afterward production problems sawAirboy put on hiatus after 50 issues,[85] whileScout likewise stalled before mooted third seriesScout: Marauder could begin. At the end of 1989 Eclipse announced they were turning away from mainstream comics to 'special projects'[86] (including their trading card business).
After the failure ofTotal Eclipse, Eclipse largely discontinued superhero comics, apart from theZot! ongoing (which ended in 1991[87]) andMiracleman. Instead, comics output largely focused on literary adaptations, includingJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Hobbit,[88]Anne McCaffrey'sDragonflight[86] and severalClive Barker works,[89] either as mini-series, one shots or graphic novels. Otherwise the company focused on collected editions, and only occasional titles – such as Truman's revisiting of pulp heroThe Spider[90] or zeitgeist-tapping spoofs such asX-Farce[91] (a satire onRob Liefeld'sX-Force) andLoco vs. Pulverine[92] (based onLobo andWolverine)--made any impression on sales charts. Several titles, such as a newAztec Ace mini-series and several titles under the Eclipse F/X horror label, were announced but failed to reach publication.[37]
By 1991 Eclipse typically held around 1% of the market and had been definitively overtaken byMalibu,Valiant andImage. Having always done most of its business with comic stores rather than larger retailers, Eclipse was one of many small publishers adversely affected by the post-speculator boom contraction of thedirect market, and by a problematic contract with the book publisherHarperCollins.[93]
Problems were exacerbated when Mullaney and Yronwode underwent a messy divorce during 1993;[94] Yronwode later claimed that Mullaney began behaving erratically and emptying Eclipse accounts.[95] The company was left so low on resources that, despite receiving completed versions ofMiracleman #25 and spin-offMiracleman Triumphant #1, no printer would extend them credit to print the comics.[96] Eclipse's last publication was its Spring 1993 catalog, which was a complete bibliography of its publications, and it ceased business in 1994[97] before finally filing for bankruptcy in 1995.[98]
The company's intellectual property rights were later acquired byTodd McFarlane for a total of $25,000.[99] Due to most of the company's titles being creator-owned, this largely consisted of theAirboy characters and trademarks for some of the anthology titles; at the time McFarlane and others involved believed it also included a two-thirds share inMiracleman.[100] Eventually it was discovered that Quality Communications, and thus Eclipse, had never correctly licensed the characters from creatorMick Anglo.[101]
After its contract with Eclipse ended in 1988, manga translatorToren Smith's Studio Proteus signed with Dark Horse. Finding his income suddenly increasing despite similar sales, Smith instigated an audit of Eclipse's finances, revealing the keeping oftwo sets of books to avoid paying the agreed royalties. A large judgment was eventually made against Eclipse, the losses from which were a factor in the company's strained finances.[96]
Garry Leach,[102]Dez Skinn,[103]Alan Davis,[104]Neil Gaiman,[96]Mark Buckingham,[105]Dave Stevens[106] andMike Deodato[96] have all gone on the record to state they were either not paid or not paid correctly for work with Eclipse, while Davis has also stated his work was published without his permission.[104]
In 1992, the convictedserial killerKenneth Bianchi, one-half of the pair known as theHillside Stranglers, sued Yronwode forUSD$8.5 million for having an image of his face depicted on a trading card; he claimed his face was his trademark. The judge dismissed the case after ruling that, if Bianchi had been using his face as a trademark when he was killing women, he would not have tried to hide it from the police.[107][108]
Eclipse was also a plaintiff whenNassau County, New York, seized a crime-themed trading card series of theirs under a county ordinance prohibiting sales of certain trading cards to minors.[109] The case, in which Yronwode testified and theAmerican Civil Liberties Union provided Eclipse's representation, reached the2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. It ruled against the county, overturning the ordinance.[110][111][112]
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